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Cyanotic
Prehab 25mg

Glitch Mode Recordings / BitRiot Records

Posted: Friday, October 24, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Cyanotic have been at the forefront of the modern coldwave revival, infusing their scathing brand of industrial rock with the elements of the current underground electronic scene such as glitch, power noise, drum & bass, and with just a little bit of danceable EBM rhythms for good measure. Their 2005 debut Transhuman took the industrial world by storm, recalling the best moments of the '90s without sounding dated, leading the way for a new generation to take the reigns and save the scene from overbearing trends and stagnation. As a precursor to their highly anticipated second album, The Medication Generation, Cyanotic offers this six-track EP, continuing their exploration of the excesses of the modern era, particularly the saturation of pharmaceuticals, mass media, and the overly technological state we live in. "The Static Screen" begins the proceedings with a jumbled array of distorted televised signals before kicking you headfirst into a barrage of grinding guitars, caustic breakbeats and edgy synth programming that would put most drum & bass DJs and artists to shame, and front man Sean Payne's seething vocals that are partially indicative of a Cubanate influence, especially in the verses. Similarly, "Brutal Deluxe" comes in an updated version from its Gears Gone Wild demo. As if the song wasn't mean enough in its original form, this version lives up to its title as a brutal array of drum & bass beats, guitars that scrape and screech their way across the mix, with Payne's vocals blasting through the speakers with all the fervor of a hail of bullets in a military firefight. "Alt.Machine" and "Dream It Dead" - the latter being a collaboration with label mates and co-producers mindFluxFuneral - are better suited for the dance floor, though they are no less abrasive with their pummeling rhythms and glitch-laden textures. "Efficacy" comes in the form of an instrumental, menacing in its attitude, but haunting in its atmosphere as reverberating tones creep their way into the listener's psyche, coming across as a soundtrack to an episode of self-medicated stupor. Having recently toured with 16volt, it's perhaps no surprise that Cyanotic would return to the first song they ever recorded, a cover of "Two Wires Thin." While still faithful to the 16volt original, this revamping gives the song a shine in production that when compared to the first version clearly indicates just how far the band has come in the last six years. Complete with several cleverly selected movie samples throughout, Prehab 25mg gives listeners a small but virulent dose of hard-hitting industrial rock, indicating like the Robocop sample in "Alt.Machine" says that The Medication Generation is "gonna be a bad motherfucker!"